First off, let’s just go ahead and talk about the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room: Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! is one crazy band name. Replete with action verbs and punctuation all over the place (lending itself quite well to a F!SR,F! abbreviation), this six-piece band from Adelaide, Australia had my interest piqued before I even heard Sea Priest, their debut long-playing record. However, I must sadly admit that I did not have very high expectations for F!SR,F! (I will make this abbreviation catch on or I will die trying). Speaking strictly from past experience, I’ve found that bands with admittedly witty and imaginative monikers usually struggle to put forth music that is anywhere near the same level of quality. Against Me! long ago proved that putting one exclamation point in your band name doesn’t necessarily mean you suck, but I’ve never trusted artists who’ve tried to be smarty-pants and sneak an extra exclamation point or two into their name. Needless to say, Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! had a lot to overcome in this reviewer’s eyes.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that Sea Priest is actually really good. Like, really good. They write catchy, fairly straightforward rocks songs with pretty decent pop sensibilities but allow their guitarists a fair amount of individual freedom within those confines. The rhythm section mainly stays firmly planted in the post-punk tradition of Joy Division and Interpol, but the guitars drive the show here, owing quite a bit more to hardcore and progressive influences like The Fall of Troy, Minus the Bear, dredg, and Circa Survive. The result is a batch of songs that are danceable but can hold significant interest for guitar nerds as well. And did I mention they have a female vocalist?! Caitlin Duff has a soft, breathy voice (kinda reminiscent of Lily Allen) that could use a bit more fine-tuning on slower songs but is generally spot-on otherwise.

Highlights abound on Sea Priest. “Ghostress” is a driving and infectious opener, with Duff’s controlled vocals setting up a nice contrast with David Williams’ chaotic, effects-driven guitar. “Onionknight” is a beautiful bit of guitar pop, coming off as some mixture of Pavement and Planet of Ice-era Minus the Bear. And Duff’s vocal standout comes on “An Rabbit” where, poor grammar or not, her sing-song vocal inflexions provide the album with its catchiest moments. Sea Priest drags a bit towards the end, but I can’t really find much of anything to complain about with its first eight tracks. And, by my reckoning, eight really good tracks on a single album is a high mark for any artist, regardless of how many exclamation points they have in their band name. So I’m sorry I pre-judged you, Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! Hopefully we can be friends and you guys can someday explain how on God’s green earth you came up with that name.